Birmingham Afghan Hound Club

It was an honour to be invited by the Birmingham Afghan Hound Club to judge the main BIS awards at their afternoon Open Show on 10th February 2019; there was a warm welcome, friendly atmosphere and everything ran well to time. BIS was won by the Best Dog, Gosling’s Ayoubkhan Persian Silk JW, and Res. BIS was the Best Bitch, Hughes’ Gezancol Saving Grace.

Although quite different in look, they were both lovely examples of the breed in their own right; the steel blue dog being taller & very male in appearance, arrogant, constructed well, strong front, good upper arm length & return, terrific depth of chest & good brisket, firm loin, strongly muscled, ringed tail, good pin bones & fallaway to sweeping quarters used to great advantage. Moving with a style of high order and covering the ring well, clean strides with ease of movement. I was in no doubt that he could take down any prey if necessary.

The b/m red bitch was instantly appealing, completely feminine, petite, loved her expression & pigment surrounding those dark eyes, nicely balanced angles fore & aft, good depth, nicely ribbed back with short loin, very nice square outline on the stack, ringed tail, presented and handled very well.

Congratulations to the Res.Best Dog, Drage’s Gilari Rosso Corsa, as being bred by myself, he was withdrawn from further competition relating to any challenge for Res.BIS.

Best Veteran in Show was won by Gardner’s Javidan Bad Boy Boogie, heavily coated male blue brindle, lean long head, strong neck to good front assembly, strongly boned, short back, good depth & spring of rib, short loin, well angled rear, large feet well down; was handled well and had an age advantage over the 13 year old bitch in this challenge. Very sound moving nicely presented dog.

Best Puppy in Show was challenged by two delightful litter mates, and was eventually won by O’Donnell’s brindle bitch, Drishaun Faith Is Like A Lily for Javidan. She was very feminine throughout had lovely balance using her well-constructed strong frame to huge advantage covering the length of the ring fluidly, with springy free even strides, great outline on the stack and on the move, handled well.